Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing this e-ARC. I am anticipating reading this soon and reviewing on my socials.

I feel like the depiction of trauma in this was detrimental especially by the end. I honestly don’t even know what that ending was. The book did keep me wanting to read because I wanted to find out answers like Sloan did, but the ending did feel like a “wtf” and not in the good way.

I have read and enjoy some of Dugans other works and enjoyed them. This however just felt…unfinished? odd?
It seemed like there was a lot of content that could have been filtered down or edited out completely. And the end with the way people dealt with the trauma of the girls was so uncomfortable to me.

I just don’t think this was the best representation of the authors talents

I wanted to love this one but it wasn’t my favorite. The characters weren’t as fleshed out as I would have liked. Fun, but not as good as other YA thrillers.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for access to an eARC of The Last Girls Standing in exchange for my honest review!

Everything seemed like it was going to be okay. It was the Summer after senior year and Sloan was a camp counselor at Camp Money Springs. She made friends, she had fun, and she started falling for another counselor, Cherry. And all of this before the kids even arrived for the Summer! But things go quickly off the rails when a group of attackers in animal masks charge through the camp in the middle of the night, killing everyone except for Sloan and Cherry. And now they're both back home--Cherry even moved with her mom to be closer--and they're still trying to come to terms with what happened to them, especially because Sloan has no recollection of the events of that night and has to rely on Cherry to tell their story for her. Even multiple attempts at hypnosis with a counselor have not helped Sloan to recover her memories of the massacre, and as her mind tries to piece together the few things she does remember, she alienates herself from everyone in her life other than Cherry. And when the last surviving attacker asks to speak with them, their whole world is toppled yet again, and Sloan begins to doubt even Cherry's involvement in the massacre and the truth of what happened that night.

There were so many wild twists and turns throughout this book. My sister and I read it together, and while we were reading, we were literally placing bets on what we thought was going to happen and how the plot was going to pan out. All in all, it was a really fun time. I loved getting to watch the characters go through the process of solving the mystery of the attack and the drama was *insane*.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for introducing me to Jennifer Dugan.

Given that I have never read any of Jennifer Dugan's previous books, I did not go into this book with any expectations.

So while the description made it sound like a thriller, it almost reads as a story about a trauma bond.

Sloan and Cherry survived a massacre at their camp where they were counselors. They were the only two who survived and it almost seems as if I very deep trauma bond forms between them. There is a lot of focus on mental illness and PTSD. Sloan seems to be more affected than Cherry as she struggles much much more.

So while I was half expecting a thriller, I thought the book was so much better than I initially thought it would be. There is fantastic character development. Now when I saw development, I don't mean about how the characters "grew" because the reality is, they didn't change but Sloan's journey into the dark world of mental illness was detailed so well, I have to call it a development. Sloan never came across as crazy. My heart actually broke for her, broke for both of them.

As I said earlier this was my first book by Jennifer Dugan, so I'm going to end this to go find her other books.

Jennifer Dugan has been a hit or miss author for me! Sometimes her books hit and others that feel rushed and disjointed. I wanted more from this book but didnt get it.

A killer strikes a summer camp and two girls are the last to live. Sloan and Cherry are two girls who experience the same trauma and their only way to cope is to be around each other and try to find out what happened to them. Jennifer Dugan writes this thriller in a way that the narrator's story is unreliable so it leaves you questioning up to the last chapter of the book.

Such an exciting premise with poor execution. I usually enjoy YA very much but this was just blah to me. And the characters were very annoying. Didn't enjoy it at all.

I’ll be very honest, if this wasn’t an arc I would’ve dnfed it for sure. I already tried reading it months ago and couldn’t get into it and when I tried again I still struggled a lot.

The story starts very slow, too slow. I was confused, bored and not at all invested. Which for a thriller, definitely isn’t a good thing. I also couldn’t connect with the main character, making me even less invested.

By the time it picks up, I already didn’t care anymore. I think if it picked up a bit earlier it would’ve worked so much better. I just wish it didn’t take so long for it to get good.

One positive thing from this book is that I think the author dealt with the heavier topics of this book very well.

Overall this definitely had a lot of potential, but the execution failed for me. I think this book could work for a lot of people if they went into it with the right expectations, but personally I just didn’t enjoy it.

i think i just had different expectations going into this book. i would’ve enjoyed this more if i was in high school but as i’ve gotten older i just didn’t connect to the book as much.

This is exactly what I want to see in slasher-esque thrillers. It was nearly perfect and I loved the way the story unfolded over the course of the book.

Sloan and Cherry are the sole survivors of a summer camp massacre. Months later, they are inseparable. As the only survivors, no one else knows what they went through or what they're dealing with in the aftermath. They spend hours digging online for information about the case much to the disappointment of Sloan's mother who wishes that Sloan could move on (and hopefully away from her dependence on Cherry). When new evidence becomes public, Sloan becomes fixated on the "why" of it all and she also begins to wonder if the one person who knows exactly what she went through might know even more than she's letting on.

If you're looking for a psychological thriller with an unreliable narrator and some twists and turns, this is a good choice. Dugan does a good job of crafting a story where the reader, much like Sloan, isn't sure who or what to believe.

It took me awhile to get into this story, but once I was more invested it was a very quick read. There were some issues that I had with the story, including the way Sloan's mother dealt with her daughter's trauma. Instead of sending her to an actual therapist, she elects to send her to some sort of hypnotherapist who wants Sloan to deal with her trauma through hypnotism. Her mother also seems to think that all Sloan needs is to get back to "normal" and that will fix everything.

Despite those issues, the book was an enjoyable read, even if it wasn't exactly what I thought I was getting when I picked up this ARC.

2 stars!

I was really excited for this book because I love the final girl trope and was excited for the queer relationship representation. I didn't feel like the way that trauma was portrayed in this novel was very appropriate and the actions at the end of the book were absolutely awful. It was unfortunate that the main relationship had two characters who felt like they were toxic for each other. And again...the end!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Trauma and PTSD seemed poorly represented here. I’m just not a fan of the “victim of violent crime becomes violent criminal as result of her trauma” -trope.

Unfortunately, I’m pretty disappointed in the book. The concept seemed amazing, the execution was sadly not my thing at all. Maybe it’s a matter of taste, but it wasn’t for me.

I received this book for free for an honest unbiased review from Netgalley.

I struggled with this one. I finished but barely.

Jenniger Dugan's previous novel - Some Girls Do - was one of my top reads of last year, so I was so excited for this book.

Seeing her write out a slasher that she so artfully took inspiration from 80's slashers.

While it took a bit for the book to take off, I was still engulfing this book like it was my first time reading anything by her. Excited and enjoying every crumb she was laying down.

I love the queer representation that Dugan so beautifully writes about in her books - and this one was just as gorgeous,

I already cannot wait for Dugan's next book for me to devour,

This was book was a roller coaster of emotions. Because of the unreliable narrator, I was constantly trying to figure out what was true and what wasn't. I gave this three stars. I felt like sometimes the the book was dragging on, especially in the beginning. I really liked the ending

I gave this book a 4.5. I read a book not long ago with a similar premise, a killer, a camp, and the last girl. I hated that she never fully recovered her memories. I wanted to find out the truth. Of course, Cherry always told her the truth.

It was a wild ride that ended with a bang. There were a few loose ends that I wish were clearer, but overall it was a solid read for a young adult mystery horror novel.

I was lucky enough to be gifted this book for my birthday, so even though I was not able to read this eBook version, I still got to read this! It was a good read. I enjoyed my time while reading this one. I will for sure check out other books by this author. The ending was solid and can be good for discussions in book clubs.